It's so much fun just hitting the road with a fellow horse junkie who is also looking for a new place to ride and just seeing what barns are in the neighbourhood. I have missed that since I've either had a barn the entire time, or just wasn't ready to commit to actual lessons yet. I haven't had an actual structured lesson since I came home from college, so about 2 years. That's a really long time in this industry. I've probably picked up some bad habits along the way. Something that a new coach will have to deal with. Poor them :)
Anyways, Bridget had planned the whole trip and the communications with some barns, and only 2 replied to us, so we went to those too. First on the list was Cricket Lane Farms. Owned by a couple who is in the Jousting circle, Bridget is super interested in that. It'd be pretty cool to try out. The only thing is that it's out past Hamilton, so it's quite the drive for us (no weekly lessons there) and they are a new facility who haven't worked out all the kinks yet. Amazing ideas for their barns/boarders. It's a converted chicken barn, which is amazing. It's a 300 ft barn and half is being made into an arena (which is perfect for the jousting lists, because it's long and narrow), the rest is going to be stalls, standing stalls, tack areas and run-in sheds. Oh, and the area for the chickens and the pheasants. Of course. We left early in the morning to arrive there early (before we were expected. Good thing horse people are early risers.) Nicest couple to let us tour their place. Still under construction, it'll be amazing once done. They even let us ride! We got on their beast of a horse, Gloucestre. He's a serious beast. He's a Trakhener/Thoroughbred/Breton Cross and just has weight to him. I'm so used to Peter and his nothing-ness (woooot he's maybe 700lbs) and just the aweome power of Gloucestre was exhilarating. 3 strides and I was at the end of the arena. I didn't throw the spear at the haybale, (Bridget did) I just have terrible eye-hand coordination. I helped Stephanie get out of her light armour (yes ARMOUR!). That was pretty cool in itself. So, they had to get ready for company coming over after lunch and they were leaving the next day for a tournament in Pennsylvania. So we hustled out of there as politely as possible, we didn't want to impose to much upon their courtesy. We left them with a lot of food for thought, we suggested maybe if we could come up once every month or two months for the day and help out, ride, etc. Now, we'll just have to see what happens when they come back from Pennsylvania in 3 weeks.
Gloucestre and Stephanie
So we left their place at lunch time, and we were starving so we finally hit something that was decently big and ate at McDonalds, which is something for me because I had it twice that week. Makes my arteries cry just thinking about it.
Anyways, we decided what to do from there. We decided to visit the only other place that responded to us, Equestrian Dreams, and see how it goes from there. We were supposed to arrive after 3.30 but since our timing was off, )even though we got a little lost...) we arrived early. At first glance it doesn't seem like much, but once you pull into the driveway, it's a gorgeous facility. The arena is huge, competition sized and so nicely ventilated and so light! So much natural light, it's amazing. The barn is so nicely done, with nice big tack areas and huge stalls. The horses are gorgeous and obviously well trained. Debbie, the coach had a lesson that she was about to go teach but she talked to us for a couple of minutes, before taking them into the arena. We talked with her husband Jim, for almost 2 hours. It was really nice. Another super nice couple, and very funny. It was nice to see that it wasn't pretentious even though she has many qualifications that could make it so. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them and can't wait to start riding there. Bridget can't start lessons until September anyways, because work is so hectic for her right now, so I won't be starting until then anyways. I can't wait! I'm so pumped because I've been wanting to ride dressage for so long, and I'll actually be able to soon!
I will keep up the posting when I find out more information!
xoxo
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